Sully (2016) review

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that Clint Eastwood is almost 90 years old (he’s 86 right now). And yet despite that age he is still continuing to work as a director. He’s directed 35 films since 1971 and plenty of them have been well-received by critics and audiences. Two of his films, 1992’s Forgiven and 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, have won Best Picture and he won both times for Best Director as well. He had a pretty darn solid year two years ago in 2014 with not one but two directorial efforts from him. The first was Jersey Boys and although the film was only a modest hit and received mixed reviews, I’d argue that it was one of the most underrated films of that year. Eastwood had much more success, however, with his other directorial effort of that year, American Sniper. The true story of U.S Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle ended up becoming Eastwood’s biggest commercial hit to date and was one of that year’s big contenders for Best Picture. This year, Eastwood takes on another recent true story with Sully. This film tells the story of Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger and the events of January 15, 2009, when Sully and co-pilot Jeff Skiles miraculously landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River after an unexpected bird strike disabled both of their engines. But while Sully and Skiles did manage to land the plane safely with all 155 of its passengers onboard, soon the two found themselves being questioned over their actions in what this film’s tagline refers to as ‘the untold story behind the Miracle of the Hudson’. And overall, said ‘untold story’ is an engaging, and sometimes tense, retelling of a fascinating true story backed by terrific performances, especially from its two main leads.

As noted in the intro, on January 15^th, 2009, Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) boarded US Airways Flight 1549, which was set to depart from LaGuardia Airport on a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. However, just a few minutes after take-off, the plane unexpectedly crosses paths with a flock of geese, which causes engine failure to both of the plane’s engines. Realizing that there’s little chance of them being able to make it back to LaGuardia or even over to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, Sully decides to take a huge risk and land the plane in the Hudson River. Somehow, someway, the plane successfully lands in the Hudson and all of the 155 passengers and crew members on board survive. However, while Sully does get dubbed a hero by the press, him and Skiles soon find themselves in a particularly stressful situation when they are approached by the National Transportation Safety Board, who begin an investigation over the details surrounding the incident. Specifically, they mainly question Sully’s decision to land the plane on the Hudson, insisting that he could’ve easily landed at either LaGuardia or Teterboro without incident based on computer simulated recreations of the incident. They even imply that one of the engines was still operational. And so, despite his more than 40 years of experience in the air, Sully suddenly finds himself judged on the 208 seconds of his life in which the lives of his passengers, his fellow crew members, and even his own were in his hands.

Now despite what you may think, the whole ‘crash landing in the Hudson’ situation is not the main focus of the film. That part of the story actually ends up being told in a series of fairly lengthy flashbacks. Instead, the bulk of the film is more focused around the aftermath, namely the investigation into the incident that mainly focused in on the fact that Sully decided to do something that no else had ever managed to pull off, and yet he did just that. And while those who are familiar with the incident will no doubt know how everything turns out, overall the film does a solid job at keeping the audience engaged throughout. I was surprised to find that the film is actually pretty short. I only bring this up because many of Eastwood’s recent films have had a runtime of over two hours whereas this is only 96 minutes long. And in this case, that’s a good thing; the film is solidly paced and never overstays its welcome. The whole sequence involving the actual landing on the Hudson is definitely one of the standout moments of the film. Because it’s shown multiple times, we get to see it happen from different perspectives, from Sully and Skiles in the cockpit to the passengers. It’s well-shot and solidly tense throughout, even though obviously we know what’s going to end up happening (e.g. everyone survives). It sounds like this is an interesting film to watch in IMAX. For the record, the film’s marketing notes that the film was primarily shot (about 95% of it to be exact) with IMAX cameras. I didn’t see the film in IMAX but from what I’ve heard, it is worth checking out on that big screen. From what I hear it’s a subtle IMAX job in a film that admittedly doesn’t really rely on ‘big-scale’ camera shots being mostly set in interior spaces.

Being one of the most famous actors of his generation, Tom Hanks is as great as he’s always been throughout his career in the role of Sully. Due to the film spending most of its time after the Hudson incident, it does a really nice job at exploring Sully’s psyche in the days following the incident. Because while we do know how this whole investigation ended, it does make Sully question whether or not he did the right thing by landing the plane in the Hudson. Did he potentially endanger the lives of everyone on board that plane? But while Tom Hanks is certainly terrific in the film, another great performance comes courtesy of one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood at the moment, Aaron Eckhart as Sully’s co-pilot Jeff Skiles. One thing that surprised me about the film was that while the story does maintain a fittingly serious tone throughout, especially during the crash landing scene, there are actually times where there are a few light-hearted quips tossed around from time to time, many of which come from Skiles (including one at the end of the film that I do feel ends it on a good note). And overall I do appreciate that as it helps make Sully and Skiles a likable duo (though really would you expect anything less from someone like Tom Hanks?) that you do want to see overcome their current dilemma. Plus, Hanks and Eckhart do work really well together. Ultimately, they’re the two most important members of the cast. There’s some solid supporting roles from the likes of Laura Linney, who plays Sully’s wife Lorraine, and Anna Gunn, who plays one of the members of the NTSB board, but ultimately their characters only play a minor part in the story (e.g. Linney only appears in a few scenes talking to Sully over the phone from their house).

Now I’ll admit… this might be a bit of a hard film to recommend at the moment if only because of the timing of its release. It was released on September 9^th, just two days before the 15^th anniversary of September 11^th. Though for the record, this was only a coincidental thing as this was the best time that it could be released being an IMAX film. I mean to reference some recent comments from screenwriter Todd Komarnicki, they certainly couldn’t release it in December with the new Star Wars film coming out around that same time. Plus, while they are only part of a series of nightmares that Sully has throughout the film, there are a few sequences of planes crashing into buildings that could most definitely evoke some bad memories for people. But remember last year when I reviewed The Walk, a film about the World Trade Center that actually was a positive story revolving around the Towers? Well, Sully is the same case but in the context of being a film about a plane incident that occurred in New York. This truly was a miraculous moment and while the film does showcase an instance in which its main character was questioned over his actions, at the end of the day the film firmly establishes Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger as the hero that he truly is. And because the film is only an hour and a half long and it’s pretty straight-forward and to the point, it’s a very subtle celebration of his accomplishment. Clint Eastwood’s direction and Tom Hanks’ performance in the role of Sully are as solid as you’d expect from the two film legends. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s one of Eastwood’s best but it’s certainly an enjoyable crowd-pleaser.

Rating: 4/5

American Sniper (2014) review

I must say, 2014 has been a banner year for the biopic genre as this past year has given us some truly fantastic films that have shed the light on some fascinating true stories. In ‘The Theory of Everything’, we saw the touching romance between Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde who stood by each other through thick and thin. In ‘The Imitation Game’, we learned of the tragic fall from grace of Alan Turing despite his significant contributions to computing. And in ‘Selma’, we viewed the emotionally powerful tale of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr. And now yet another excellent addition to 2014’s group of biopics comes in the form of  ‘American Sniper’, the second film of the year from director Clint Eastwood after last summer’s ‘Jersey Boys’ (which was also technically a ‘biopic’ but a primarily dramatized one that was based on the Broadway musical of the same name). This film is the true story of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who became known as ‘The Legend’ having been credited with more than 160 kills, making him the deadliest marksman in the history of the U.S. Military. This film explores both Kyle’s career with the military while also his struggles to deal with life away from war while he’s back home with his family. Featuring superb performances from its two leads and excellent direction from Eastwood, ‘American Sniper’ is easily one of the best films of 2014 as it explores the life of this fascinating soldier who always served his country up until the very end (Kyle was tragically killed in February 2013).

Raised up in Texas on the moral code of ‘always being a sheepdog and protecting others’ by his father, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), after initially working as a rodeo cowboy, enlists into the U.S. Navy’s SEAL program following the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. After marrying Taya (Sienna Miller), who he meets at a bar while he is in training, Chris is quickly deployed to Iraq following the 9/11 attacks and immediately makes a name for himself as a master sniper as he makes numerous kills to the point where his fellow soldiers give him the nickname of ‘The Legend’. On the battlefield, Chris and his fellow SEALs seek to take down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a key commander of Al-Qaeda. But at the same time, the film also explores Kyle’s struggles to return back to his normal life whenever he returns home from a tour of duty. Despite all of his efforts to be both a loving husband to Taya and father to their two kids, Chris finds that he is unable to leave the war behind and as a result, he starts to become somewhat detached from his family as he ends up going through four tours of duty in Iraq despite Taya’s pleads for him to stay with their family due to him being away from them for so long.

I’m guessing that, because this film is titled ‘American Sniper’, some will be heading into this film thinking that it’s just going to be an action film centered on a badass sniper. And while it’s true that Kyle’s achievements as a sniper are undeniably fascinating (including a kill from over 2,100 yards away, which isn’t shown in the film for the record, though a similar long distance kill is shown), that’s not what this movie is all about. It’s more about Kyle as a person and with that said, he is a truly fascinating figure. He’s definitely likable as shown from how we see him when he’s with his family and when he’s bonding with his fellow soldiers. There are definitely times where, back home from war, he displays signs of PTSD like many other soldiers would due to all they went through during the war. The most interesting aspect of Kyle, however, is how patriotic he is. It is this patriotism that compels him to go on four tours despite the fact that he was spending more and more time away from his family. Whenever a terrible act is committed against America, he’s shown to be extremely pissed off about it (after all, it was an act of terrorism that got him into the military in the first place) and it’s also shown that he shows quite a lot of regret whenever one of his fellow soldiers is killed in battle. That’s ultimately why he kept going back into war because he wanted to help keep his fellow soldiers alive and overall the film does a great job at exploring all of these elements of Kyle’s life. And while I did say that the film does focus more on Kyle’s character than the action, the action sequences in the film are really good, especially the epic finale that takes place in the middle of a sandstorm.

Bradley Cooper easily gives not only one of the best performances of this past year (more than deserving of his recent Oscar nomination for Best Actor), but also arguably the best performance of his entire career to date as Chris Kyle. He bulked up to the point where he was quite unrecognizable in order for him to play the role and he does a perfect job in capturing Kyle’s patriotism, his composure in battle, and his emotional turmoil back home. But equally great here is Sienna Miller as Taya in what is also arguably her best performance to date. While the film does focus more on Chris than her, we do see how much of an impact that this war and Chris’ involvement in it is having on her. Obviously she must have been constantly worried about Chris while he was out on tour and was dreading the possibility of being told that he died in combat. And while he may not have died while away on tour, I’m certain that we’d all be going through what she went through if we were in her situation. Scenes like the ones where she loses contact with Chris when he suddenly gets into a firefight and when she pleads with him not to go out on a fourth tour of duty are extremely heartbreaking and just like how Cooper does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of Chris Kyle, Miller too does a fantastic job at conveying Taya’s emotions and the turmoil that she went through while waiting for Chris to come home. Plus, Cooper and Miller have exceptional romantic chemistry which makes Chris and Taya’s relationship all the more compelling.

I was immediately hooked by ‘American Sniper’ and was fully engaged from beginning to end as we got to explore the fascinating life of Chris Kyle as he went through four tours of duty becoming the most deadly marksman in U.S. Military history. Obviously his accomplishments in battle are impressive enough but then you also factor in how hard it must have been like for him to not be helping his fellow soldiers whenever he’s back home, showing that war will leave a major impact on you up until the very end. Not only that, but the film does a great job at showing how much this is affecting not just Chris, but also his wife Taya as we see her struggling to deal with having Chris being away for so long and in constant danger. Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller do absolutely fantastic jobs as Chris and Taya Kyle, respectively, and the direction from Clint Eastwood is both focused and 100% respectful of Chris Kyle’s life story. This is easily Eastwood’s best film in recent years as a director as he shows that he is still a force to be reckoned with as a director even though he’s now 84 years old. In short, ‘American Sniper’ is both one of the best biopics of 2014 (a year that has seen plenty other great biopics as well) and one of the best films of 2014 as it does true justice to its main subject.

R.I.P. Chris Kyle: 1974-2013: I dedicate my review to him, ‘The Legend’

Rating: 5/5!

Jersey Boys (2014) review

This is one of those cases where you have a movie that is directed by someone that quite frankly you would have never expected to make a movie that was a part of that genre given the director’s previous filmography. I mean, with a movie like ‘Jersey Boys’, based off of the four-time Tony Award winning Broadway musical of the same name which debuted in 2005 dramatizing the rise and fall of the famous 60’s rock group ‘The Four Seasons’, who would you think would have been a good choice to direct the film? Maybe someone who has directed musicals before like Rob Marshall (‘Chicago’), but would you have ever guessed that we would see a musical directed by Clint Eastwood… yes, the Clint Eastwood, the same man known for directing movies such as ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’. That alone made me interested in seeing this film. And I have to say that for a movie that’s currently getting rather mixed reviews right now and one that wasn’t too big of a hit at the box office during its first weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I do have some minor issues with the film’s length, I found the film to be very enjoyable and while it may sort of be your typical musical ‘biopic’, it benefits heavily from some great music, a good cast, and a pretty laid-back pace.

It all started in 1953 in Newark, New Jersey when Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), a native of the area who constantly found himself getting into trouble with the police, forms a band called ‘The Variety Trio’ with his brother Nick and their friend Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda). Around that same time, Tommy befriends Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), taking him under his wing and eventually letting him join the group where he ends up taking the place of Tommy’s brother. However, the three-man band continues to find little success up until they recruit a fourth member, singer/songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), change their name to the ‘Four Seasons’, and sign a contract deal. While at first they find themselves as back-up singers, they soon release a couple of number one hits, including ‘Sherry’ and ‘Walk Like a Man’, propelling them to superstardom. However, the relationships between the four members of the group start to become strained after it is revealed that Tommy is in serious debt having owed $150,000 to a loan shark.

The film does take a little bit to get going, about twenty minutes or so, but once the four main guys actually get together, that was when the film really started to pick up. I do sort of feel like the movie was ultimately just a little bit too long, but at the same time, there wasn’t really any instances where I started to get bored because I was really getting into the film. I felt that the four main guys had a really nice camaraderie/group dynamic, which really shows in regards to the music, which of course is fantastic. Call me an old-timer all you want, but I just love this kind of music and while the movie is sort of more focused on the behind-the-scenes developments of the group rather than their music, I guarantee you that this movie has its fair share of toe-tapping musical moments. I’ve heard a lot of critics say that this film could’ve had a bit more faster pace but I did kind of like that the film went at a pretty relaxing speed. For the record, I haven’t seen the musical itself so I don’t know the kind of pacing that it had compared to the film and yes, this film’s pacing probably is the main reason why I did feel that the movie went on just a bit longer than it needed to be but again, I didn’t think that the movie was ‘overlong’, per se.

Aside from Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito, pretty much every member of the main cast were all stage actors who had played these roles before, whether on Broadway or on national tours. Most notably John Lloyd Young returns to the role of Frankie Valli having originated the role when the musical first debuted, which won him a Tony in 2006. Some might say that because of this, the actors give off a bit too much of a ‘Broadway’ vibe but overall I think they all did a really good job. As I said earlier, Young, Piazza, Bergen, and Lomenda have a great camaraderie and they all did a great job performance-wise with the music. I won’t go as far as to choose the ‘standout’ of the four, though I will say that out of the four guys, I liked Young and Bergen the most in regards to their performances, not because these two are probably focused on the most in regards to the members of the group, but because I found that both came off as being pretty likable. Christopher Walken also has a nice minor role in this as Gyp DeCarlo, a mob boss with whom Frankie and Tommy have a good relationship with. He’s only in the movie for a few scenes, but of course, he’s Christopher Walken and he commands the stage whenever he’s on-screen.

I never thought that we would ever see Clint Eastwood direct a musical, but now he has and overall I’d say that it turned out to be pretty good. I’ve never seen the actual Broadway musical so I can’t say whether or not this movie is faithful to it, but I still found it to be an entertaining movie. Not only did I love the music, but I did actually like the fact that this movie didn’t try to speed through everything and that it had a pretty nice relaxing laid-back pace. And while I do feel that the movie was just a little bit too long, I’m not going to hold that against it because while the film did take a little bit to get going, after twenty minutes or so I was really getting into it and that is because I felt that the four main guys were really good and I found the story of the ‘Four Seasons’ to be pretty interesting, though I am aware that because this is a dramatization of their story, not all of what happened in this movie is ‘true’. Still, I do recommend this film, especially if you love this kind of music. It’s not exactly doing well right now at the box office though I do want to note when I did see this movie, the theater that I saw it in was actually packed so this film at least does have an audience though if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth checking out.

Rating: 4/5

2012 End of Year Preview: Part 1 (September)

We've had quite a year so far when it comes to movies. We've had three exceptional superhero flicks, some very funny comedies, and the birth of the next big book-adapted franchise after Harry Potter. But 2012 is not over yet and now Oscar season will begin, where the films that weren't big enough for the summer come out. However, it's these films that will the top dogs competing for Oscar nominations come February 2013, including the latest pics from directors like Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. Of course, there are still some movies that will no doubt please mass audiences, from the latest James Bond flick to the prequel to Lord of the Rings. Now it's time to take a look at some of these upcoming flicks, month by month.

SEPTEMBER



*If for some reason you're a fan of the Resident Evil film franchise, then you're probably waiting for the next entry in the series, Resident Evil: Retribution on the 14^th. Now the reason I say 'if' is because, to be fair, while the Resident Evil franchise has performed pretty decent at the box office, it has received the typical reaction from both critics and audiences that most video-game based movies get. How will this new one fare with a returning cast of characters from all throughout the previous films?

*If you're not into Resident Evil or more importantly if you have kids, then they'll probably want to see Pixar's classic 'Finding Nemo', which returns to theaters in 3-D the same weekend. What can be said about this flick that hasn't been said already? It is easily one of the finest animated films ever made with a really touching father-son story and some of the best animation Pixar has ever done. Finding Nemo is the latest film this year to be re-released in 3-D, following in the footsteps of Star Wars Episode I, Beauty and the Beast, and Titanic. It will be the first of two Pixar movies to be re-released this year in 3-D (more on the other one in the December preview).

*That's not the only major re-release this month though. That other classic film is director Steven Spielberg's 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', the first in the Indiana Jones series which will hit IMAX theaters for a special one-week engagement starting on the 7^th. This comes in conjuction with the upcoming Blu-Ray release of the film, and the process to convert the film to the IMAX format was supervised by none other than Spielberg himself.

*The weekend of September 21 is certainly going to be busy, with one of the most crowded group of wide-releases. The first is Dredd 3D, a new adaptation of the comic book series 'Judge Dredd'. It follows in the footsteps of a previous adaptation in 1995 starring Sylvester Stallone. However, this version was both a critical failure and a commerical disappointment. This new version stars Karl Urban (Star Trek) in the lead role of Judge Dredd and so far has received well by critics. At the time this is being written, Dredd holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

*Meanwhile, the next big release of the week is 'House at the End of the Street', a PG-13 rated horror film. Now, usually PG-13 horror films aren't really that good, but this flick might attract some big numbers at the box office as it stars none other than Katniss Everdeen herself, Jennifer Lawrence. But for the record, this was filmed before 'The Hunger Games' so this might just be the studio trying to bank on the success of its female lead.

*Finally, we have the main sports film of the year, Trouble With The Curve, a drama about an aging baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves who is given a last chance to prove his worth the organization. Why is this film worth bringing up? Because the lead is none other than Clint Eastwood, in his first major starring role since 2008's Gran Torino. This movie also has a solid supporting cast including Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, and John Goodman.

*For the September 28^th weekend, Sony Entertainment has two films competing for the number one spot. One is a animated family flick, Hotel Transylvania. The plot follows Dracula, the owner of a monster hotel who tries to defend his daughter from falling in love with a human who stumbles upon the place. The voice cast includes Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, and Selina Gomez. Now, I'm probably sure many of you already wrote this film off because of Sandler, but you might be pleased to know that this isn't from his studio Happy Madison. Instead, it's from the mind of cartoon legend Genndy Tartakovsky, who created cartoon classics such as Samurai Jack and Dexter's Lab.

*If you're looking for a more mature flick that weekend, look for Looper, a sci-fi flick from director Rian Johnson. In the lead role is 'Robin' from The Dark Knight Rises, Joseph Gordon Levitt who also starred in Johnson's previous two flicks, Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He also co-stars with Bruce Willis, who plays an older version of Levitt's character, who is an assassin for a criminal organization in the future who hires people like Levitt to get rid of their enemies by sending them back to Levitt's time. However, Levitt's character is faced with conflict when one of his targets is none other than his future self.

LIMITED RELEASES

Of course, there are also a few 'Oscar potential' flicks that will first hit theaters through limited releases. There's two worth noting for September.

*The first is 'The Master', the latest from director Paul Thomas Anderson. Joaquin Phoenix (in notably his first major acting role since his supposed retirement) plays a drifter who meets the charismatic leader of a new religious based organization in the post WWII era, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Expect this film to be released on the 14^th.



*The other major limited released flick is 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', based off of the hit book of the same name by Stephen Chbosky, which was published in 1999. The film will be directed by Chbosky himself, and star Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Erza Miller in the lead roles. It hits theaters on the 21^st.

There are a few other releases this month, but these were the main ones I felt were worth talking about. Stay tuned for the next entry in this 4-part look into the rest of the year's films, where we look at the month of October with the sequel to one of Liam Neeson's biggest hits, the next Ben Affleck helmed flick, and the latest entry in a popular horror franchise.